Constellations
by Athenaktt
Summary: COMPLETED...for now. ShepWeir. After a long day at work, Elizabeth takes a few moments to stargaze. John interrupts her solitude and gets Elizabeth to join him on naming some constellations.
1. Session 1

_**Disclaimer: **The characters of Stargate: Atlantis do not belong to me. They belong to MGM. No Copyright infringment intended. _

_**Author Notes: **The idea for the planet being named Lantia, came from a post I read a while backon Gateworld thatMartin Gero said about the Ancients calling the planet Lantia. To be honest I can't remember where exactly I found comment, but I thought it would work for this ficlet. _

**Constellation**

John entered the balcony to find Elizabeth standing outside with her head leaning back as she looked up at the night sky.

"Looking for UFOs?" John asked.

"No," Elizabeth replied continuing to looking up at the twinkling stars over head.

John furrowed his eyebrows and stood next to her. He let out a breath and copied Elizabeth's stance leaning his head back to look up at the sky.

The night was clear and the stars twinkled brightly in the deep blue background of the sky. The night was humid andwarm with cool wisps of air blowing against their skins.

"I haven't seen this many stars in the sky, since the last time I was stationed away from civilization," John commented breaking the silence between them.

"John," Elizabeth said, lowering her head to look at him. "We _are_ stationed away from civilization." Her neck was beginning to ache a little from looking up for so long.

"Your point?" he asked.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow as she looked at him and smiled shaking her head. She leaned forward on the balcony railing looking down at the dark swirls of the ocean surrounding the City.

"So why are we out on the balcony star gazing?" He asked leaning his back against the balcony rail.

"_I_ was out here grabbing a breath of fresh air before calling it a day," she said, "and I realized I haven't really looked at night sky here. The night sky here is so different from Earth, but it is still beautiful."

"Sure if you thinking looking at dots in the sky as beautiful. I guess it's beautiful," John crossed his arms over his chest and watched Elizabeth as her gaze returned to look at the sky.

"I kind of miss Earth's night sky," she confessed.

"Really? So far all I think all the skies look about the same," John said. Elizabeth turned to look at John and tilted her head slightly as she waited for his explanation. "You've got the same velvet blue skies speckled with twinkling stars over head and the occasional crescent moon."

"You're quite the novelist."

"I try my best," he smirked. "You knowthat starsare only light that has traveled millions of lights years before reaching our eyes, right? And some of those stars are actually planets we've visited."

"Yes, I _do _know that, but thanks for informing me anyway," Elizabeth saidrolling her eyes."What I meant by missing the Earth's sky is that back on earth we have our constellations," she explained. "I miss being able to look at the sky and being able to identify Orion, the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, and all that fun stuff."

"Constellations were basically made by old men with over active imaginations," John said. Elizabeth playfully slapped him on the arm for his remark. "I wonder what my star chart is like in this galaxy," he thought out loud.

"I think it would be difficult to have a star chart when there aren't any constellations made up by old men to chart the stars by," Elizabeth teased.

"Well then I guess we'll just have to make up our own constellations," John said.

Elizabeth looked at him surprised at his proposal. "I thought you said constellations were made my old men with over active imaginations?"

"Well…those were for the constellations back on earth. Here in the Pegasus Galaxy it would just be...us."

"Us," Elizabeth repeated. "So…what do you have in mind? Take Earth's constellations and apply it here?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

"Come on, Elizabeth, use your imagination." Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows. "I know you have one," he grinned.

"Oh and how do you know that?"

"Because I just know," he smirked. "And if I told you. You might kill me," he added.

Elizabeth paused for a moment. "What is that suppose to mean? What did you do?" Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

John started to laugh. "Nothing," he assured her.

Elizabeth contniued eyeing him suspiciously, but decided not to pursue it any further. "You know that is not a good enough answer, Major, but I'm going to let you slide this time." John smiled and started to search the sky.

"Do you think we should have a story behind each of our constellations? Since all the constellations on Earthwere based on myths?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well Doctor Weir, you're the Ancient texts expert. Did you come across any Ancients myths while you were deciphering those letter blocks?" he said turning to face the same direction as Elizabeth.

"Not really," Elizabethshrugged, "most of the stuff we've gotten our hands on are either technical or instructional. We haven't found the library yet."

"Well, then we'll have to make up our own myths," John said.

"Our own?" Elizabeth looked at John oddly. "You know the definition of myth is a _traditional_ story that serves to explain ostensibly historical events or natural phenomenon." John gave Elizabeth a blank look. "All right," she conceded, "you start then."

"Okay." John rubbed his hands together hand and rested them on his hips as he stared intently at the dark sky. Elizabeth crossed her arms at her chest and stood there observing him. "All right I got it!" he suddenly said.

Elizabeth only looked at him and resisted rolling her eyes.

"Right over here," he pointed to a patch in the sky. "Those nine stars make a circle."

"Okay, I see it," Elizabeth nodded. "What are you going to call it? Constellation Circle?"

John frowned at Elizabeth. "You're not even trying."

Elizabeth chuckled. "No, I'm not," she admitted with a chuckle. "Actually I'm rather enjoying your determination to make up your own constellations."

"You don't expect me to do all the work do you? We are a team here. There is no slacking off," he playfully scolded.

"Yes, sir. Just remember. I'm _still _your boss," Elizabeth said as her finger poked John in the chest.

"Yes, ma'am," he saluted. "Now back to thenine stars…"

"That make a circle," Elizabeth finished for him. "What were you planning on calling it?"

"Constellation Stargate," he said with boyish pride.

"Okay…"

"You see thenine stars represent the nine chevrons," he explained.

"You have quite the imagination, Major"

"My mom use to say that about me too," he smiled boyishly.

"So we have Constellation Stargate. Where's Constellation Puddlejumper?" she asked.

"I knew you were going to ask me that. It's right here." John held up his finger and pointed at a star next to the circle of stars and started to connect several stars into the shape of a parallelogram.

Elizabeth was amused. "So…the Puddlejumper is going through the Stargate."

"Exactly. I've named two already. Now it's your turn."

"My turn?" Elizabeth was hoping he wouldn't make her join his silly game, but apparently there was no way out of it unless an emergency happened upon them right then. She stood and waited for the emergency. It never came.

"I said we were a team," John said tapping his toes impatiently.

"I don't remember ever saying I wanted any part of this constellation naming."

"You don't have to remember saying it. I volunteered you. Now make up some constellations," he ordered.

"You know you have to stop volunteering people without their consent," Elizabeth scolded.

"You know me. Always eager to have people join my cause, whether they want to or not," he smirked. "Now stop stalling and make up…stuff."

"Fine. Just give me a couple minutes to think."

"You don't need to think. It's like looking at clouds. You say what you see," John said trying to distract Elizabeth and clearly succeeding.

"I would hardly call stars clouds," she replied. "Clouds are constantly changing. You never see the same clouds twice. While stars, on the other hand, don't appear to move that much. When we come back tomorrow, there is a safe bet they will be at relatively the same positions that they are now," Elizabeth pointed out.

"I'm not talking about technicalities," John said rolling his eyes.

"I know," Elizabeth smiled slyly.

John frowned at Elizabeth then his frown turned into a smile. He pointed a finger at Elizabeth. "I know your plan. You're trying to irritate me into giving away another constellation aren't you? You are a sly one, Doctor," John said raising an eyebrow.

"Why thank you, Major." Elizabeth pressed her lips together to hold back a chuckle and returned to concentrate on the sky, but John was still doing his best to distract her. He paced back and forth behind her and continuously tapped his fingers on the balcony railing.

Elizabeth let out a sigh. "Elizabeth, this isn't that hard," John said amused at her difficulty.

"Shut up, I'm trying to concentrate," she said without taking her eyes from the sky. "I remember coming across some inscriptions on a wall in one of the rooms we explored," she finally said. "It talked about a woman named Lantia. She was left on earth when the Ancients first left for the Pegasus Galaxy all those years ago."

"They just left her there?" John asked.

"It said that, at the time, there was a plague spreading among the Ancients and she was infected. She chose to stay behind."

"Must've been lonely," John said. Elizabeth nodded in agreement.

"Who ever wrote about her, must have loved her deeply. You could _feel _it in that room. Who ever it was. He regretted leaving her behind. There was even a drawing of a woman standing with her hands clasped to her heart as she watched the City of Atlantis fly off into space," Elizabeth explained and started to recite something in Ancient.

"That sounded beautiful. You didn't just call me a moldy sack of potatoes, did you?" John asked.

Elizabeth laughed and shook her head. "It translates to '_I think of you often, though we parted in swiftness. I have named this new home Lantia, for you are my home.'_"

"That is actually quite nice."

"Yes, it is," Elizabeth agreed. "Now where were we?"

"Making Constellations."

"Right," Elizabeth sighed.

"You thought I forgot. Didn't you?"

"No, I was just checking to see if you were paying attention."

"No more stalling with Ancient Mythology 101, name a constellation or else…"

"Or else what?"

"You know…or else," John replied nonchalantly.

"Of course…You see those four bright stars over there?" Elizabeth pointed to a cluster of stars that seemed to make a vertical line in the sky. "And a little up to the right of the line of stars those stars make a triangle."

John groaned.

"What?" Elizabeth looked at John puzzled by his reaction.

"You're not going to name them Constellation Line and Triangle are you?"

Elizabeth looked at John and chuckled. "No, I was going to name them Lantia."

"Okay…so a vertical line and a triangle is…"

"Lantia looking at Atlantis flying off into space," Elizabeth finished.

"You've got quite the imagination," he teased.

"You should talk. You have a circle and a parallelogram for a constellation," she reminded.

"Point taken."

"Now it's your turn." Elizabeth turned towards John.

"I made two. You only made one," John complained. "It is only fair if you make another one."

"Mine was more creative and required some research and much thought," Elizabeth said, "and technically the triangle is Atlantis which isalso aconstellation. SoI technically made two constellations as well."

"That's not creativity," he argued. "You just stumbled onto someone's love letter…room." Elizabeth only stood silently and looked at John. "Fine," he said reluctantly.

They both stood out on the balcony pointing at stars and thinking up names for each pattern for a while longer. By this time Elizabeth's neck was aching, but John was persistent in naming as many constellations as he could.

"John how many more constellations are you planning on making?" Elizabeth asked rubbing the back of her neck. "My neck is starting to hurt."

"Really? Here." Without thinking, John placed his hands on Elizabeth's shoulders and started to massage her shoulders and neck. His gaze still on the stars in the sky.

The movement of John's hands on Elizabeth's shoulders were firm yet gentle at the same time. Elizabeth closed her eyes as she let John's hands knead her aching shoulders. John truly had the magic touch. She had not had a massage that felt this good in a long time. She didn't know how long he was massaging her shoulders, but she didn't want him to stop. This was definitely a perk of being a boss, she thought to herself.

"Does that feel better?" he asked.

Elizabeth nodded. "Much better. So how much longer do we have to stay here?"

John looked at his watch. "Okay one more, then you're free to go," he proposed.

"Promise?"

"Promise is such a strong word…"

"Promise?" Elizabeth repeated again more as a statement than a question.

"Okay I promise. You'll like this one," he said with a boyish gleam in his eyes. He stopped massaging her shoulders and pointed at another cluster of stars in the sky. "You see those that cluster over there? They look like they make three parallel lines and the middle line is a bit shorter."

Elizabeth looked at the direction that John was pointing at, but looking upwards started to make her neck hurt again.

"Okay…I think I see which cluster you are talking about," Elizabeth said not really sure what John was pointing at.

"You don't see it," John said.

Elizabeth turned and looked at John. "No," she confessed.

John gave her a look. He knew she was tired. It had been another long day today, and since he already stood behind her, he took one of her hands into his hand to guide her gaze. He leaned his head just above Elizabeth shoulder to get a better picture of Elizabeth's point of view and guided their hands towards the cluster of stars he was talking about.

He then took Elizabeth's hand and drew three parallel lines in the air to connect the stars he spoke of. He then guided Elizabeth's fingers and drew a vertical line that connected the three parallel lines at their at their left edges.

"Do you see it now?" John asked.

Elizabeth couldn't help giggling, since John talking so close to her ear tickled.

"Why are you giggling?" turned his head to face her as he let go of her hand, which only made Elizabeth giggle more.

Elizabeth forced herself to stop giggling. "Sorry," she said biting her lip to keep another giggle from slipping. After finally regaining her composure, she cleared her throat and said, "I see it."

"Do you know what it is?"

Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't know. A comb?"

Elizabeth turned her head to see John make a face. "A comb? How did you figure a comb?" He asked.

"Well, a comb has teeth?" Elizabeth tried to explain her conclusion, but she gave up and shrugged.

"A comb with three teeth?" He asked.

"It could be a comb that lost its teeth," Elizabeth said.

John rolled his eyes. "It's an E. Like an E for Elizabeth," John said with a wide smile.

"An E for Elizabeth?" Elizabeth turned to face John, and she suddenly realized how close John was leaning next to her. "I didn't know we were doing letters," Elizabeth choked out. His face was so close to hers she could feel the warmth of his face next to her cheeks. She could also feel her cheeks start to flush. She lowered her gaze from John and moved slightly away from him.

John straightened himself and cleared his throat. "We weren't. I just thought we should end tonight's constellation session with a constellation named after my favorite boss."

"I'm your _only_ boss…at the moment." Elizabeth said.

"The more reason why you're my favorite," John smirked.

"Good night, John. Get some rest. Tomorrow is another day," Elizabeth said shaking her head and entering into the control room leaving John alone on the balcony.

"Yes, indeed tomorrow is another day," he said to himself and leaned forward on the balcony railing taking in the serenity of the night air just a bit longer before heading back to his room to prepare for tomorrow's adventures.


	2. Session 2

_**Author Notes:** I did not plan a second chapter for this fic, but due to the many requests for a second chapter and another plot bunny, I succumbed and wrote another chapter. _

_Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. I hope you guys like the second chapter as much as the first. Thanks again!_

_**Spoiler:** Before I sleep and 38 Minutes._

**Chapter 2**

Elizabeth stretched her arms over her head as she stood up from her office desk. She gently pushed her laptop close, stepped way from her desk, and walked onto the bridged that connected her office to the control room. She stood on the bridge for a moment leaning on one of the railings as she watched the inactive Stargate. She remembered the first day she stepped through that Stargate and how far they had come since that fateful day.

They had been in the Pegasus galaxy for some time now, and it felt like they had always been here, like they belonged here. Her life back on earth seemed a distant memory, another lifetime ago.

She looked across the room towards the stain glass windows that looked out into the balcony, and made out the shape of a man standing outside. Elizabeth smiled to herself. She knew who stood outside. She could recognize his shape anywhere. The outline of his terminal case of bed head was a dead give away. Elizabeth wondered if John had ever tried to comb his hair down, but that mystery would be left for another time.

Elizabeth thought about calling it a night and head to her room, but her legs instead started to walk towards the near empty control room. Elizabeth nodded to the scientists who were stuck with the late shift and before she knew it, she stepped through the balcony doors that slid open for her.

Elizabeth found John standing with his back to her and his hands on his hips looking up at the stars.

"Elizabeth?" John said without turning to look at her.

Elizabeth stopped in her tracks. "How did you know it was me?" she asked, completely surprised by his correct guess.

"Lucky guess," he said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Really? For a minute I thought you had eyes in the back of your head," she teased.

John finally turned to face her. "I do," he smirked.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and moved to stand beside him and lean on the balcony railing. "So why are you still out here? Shouldn't you be reading your book or watching the same football game for the millionth time?" she asked.

"I didn't feel like reading tonight, and I've only watched that game fifty-two times since we got here. Besides, I was waiting for you," he said as he placed a foot on the bottom rung of the railing.

"Me? What for?" she asked looking at him puzzledly.

"For our next constellation naming session," he said with a big grin.

Elizabeth looked at John with wide-eyes of surprised then quickly rolled her eyes. "I thought that was a one time thing."

"Well…we'll just make it into another 'one time' thing."

"Which no longer makes it a 'one time' thing," Elizabeth pointed out.

"Are you _trying_ to spoil my fun?" John glared at Elizabeth as she chuckled. "You're as bad as Rodney," John added.

"I can't let you have all the fun. Besides the last time we had a constellation naming session, my neck hurt the next day."

"Really? My massage didn't help?"

"A little, but not much," Elizabeth said rubbing the back of her neck from the memory of the other night.

"That is why I'm prepared this time."

"Prepared?" She looked at John quizzically. She saw him bend to pick up his backpack that rested on the ground next to him. He unzipped it and pulled out a blanket. He put his backpack down and proceeded to open the blanket with both hands and laid it on the ground. He sat down on the blanket, smoothed out the wrinkles, and patted the empty spot next to him for Elizabeth to join him.

"It's easier to stargaze when you're lying down," John said matter-of-factly.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Elizabeth asked as she slowly knelt down on the blanket next to John.

"Of course, this way your neck won't hurt."

John had a point. Stargazing lying down was definitely easier on her neck, but what worried Elizabeth was if someone came out to the balcony and found the two leaders of Atlantis lying on the balcony floor looking at stars. They would think they had both snapped or something else…

John was already lying down with his hands behind his head looking at the sky.

"What are you waiting for Elizabeth? Are you afraid that this is unprofessional or you paranoid about something else?"

Elizabeth looked down at John, wondering if the man could secretly read her mind. She was about to argue with John, but he interrupted her first. "Elizabeth this is your time off. Relax. Didn't your old self tell you something about relaxing and enjoying the moment?"

Elizabeth's eyebrows furrowed at John's comment. "I thought you were asleep when I was talking to her."

"I was."

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and looked at him. She wondered what else he might have heard from the intimate conversation she had with her elder self.

"Now will you stop glaring and lie down next to me already?" John said impatiently, patting the empty spot next to him.

"I don't know whether to be disturbed or amused at how that question might have sounded," she said.

John sat up and looked at Elizabeth oddly. "You think too much you know that?" he finally said. Elizabeth smiled. "Come on, listen to your own advice and relax," John insisted and lay back down on the blanket. Elizabeth let out a sigh and followed John's example and lay on the blanket next to him.

The night was another clear night. There were no clouds in the sky and the stars seemed to twinkle brighter this evening.

"So…" Elizabeth began.

"So," John repeated.

"So…what are we looking at?" Elizabeth finally asked.

"Elizabeth, what kind of question is that?" John turned his head to look at her.

Elizabeth let a giggle slip. "Well you said I think too much, so…"

"You stopped thinking period?"

"Sure, why not?" Annoyed by her smart mouth comment John poked Elizabeth on her side, causing her to giggle.

"Hey, no poking!" she objected. "This is a constellation naming session, not a poking session."

"We have poking sessions?" John asked innocently.

"That's it." Elizabeth poked John on his side, but nothing happened. He just lay there laughing. "This is not fair you're not ticklish," she said, and slapped him in the arm instead.

"I know," John grinned, "but I know _you_ are ticklish." He sat up and threatened to tickle Elizabeth.

"John," Elizabeth looked at him warningly. "Don't do it."

"Give me a reason not to."

"I'm your boss."

"You use that reason every time," he frowned.

"Because it always works." Elizabeth held her hands up as to defend herself from John.

"Not this time," he said and started to tickle her.

"Fine, if you stop tickling me, I'll stay a bit longer and name some constellations with you," Elizabeth managed to say in between her induced giggles.

John stopped tickling her and thought for a moment. "Okay, it's a deal."

Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief, and they both lay back down on the blanket. Elizabeth tried to sneak another poke at John's side, and there was still no reaction from him. She tried again, but this time John caught her fingers in his hand and wouldn't let go.

Ignoring the fact that Elizabeth was trying to pull her fingers from his grip. He brought up his free hand and pointed to a spot in the sky.

"You see that cluster of stars next to Puddlejumper?"

Elizabeth tilted her head to the side to look at the spot John pointed out. "You mean the ones that look like a shoe?"

"A shoe?" He turned and looked at Elizabeth in confusion. "Where did you get shoe from?"

Elizabeth shrugged and managed to pull her finger free from John's grip. "Well it looks like an L with a couple stars that make an X over the top. Like shoelaces," she explained, pointing to the shape she was seeing.

"Are you sure you didn't drink some of that Athosian wine before coming out here?"

Elizabeth smiled. "Yes, I'm sure. So if it isn't a shoe, what is it?"

"I don't know how _you _found an L, but from _my_ point of view. There are three stars that make a line. If you look around that line of stars, you see those stars are in the center of four other stars."

"I see. Kind of like an hour glass," Elizabeth supplied.

"Yeah, an hour glass, but this isn't an hour glass."

"If it isn't an hour glass then what is it?"

"Don't you think it looks kind of like Orion? And the three stars in the center is like Orion's belt?" he said.

"So the Orion of the Pegasus galaxy is a headless quadriplegic?" Elizabeth said trying not to laugh at the absurdity of her comment.

John furrowed his eyebrows at Elizabeth and started to laugh. "I didn't see _that_ coming at all."

Elizabeth smiled proudly. "I try to surprise you every now and then."

"I'm thoroughly surprised at your morbid humor, Doctor _Weird_."

"Hey, where's your flock of sheep Major _Shepherd_?" she said and poked him again. Only this time her poke was more of jab then a poke.

"Ow! Sorry," John exclaimed rubbing the side Elizabeth just jabbed.

"You better be," she chided. "Anyway if Orion isn't a headless quadriplegic what is it?" she asked.

"First of all it isn't Orion. I just said it was _similar_ to Orion, so you could get a better picture of which stars I were talking about; and he's not a quadriplegic or headless. Here is his head, arms, and legs." John pointed out to Elizabeth and paused. "I think," he added.

"Okay, if it isn't Orion what are you going to name it?"

"Constellation Sheppard," John said proudly. Elizabeth held back a laugh with a cough. "Why you're laughing? I'm completely serious about this."

The serious expression on John's face only made Elizabeth laugh. Eventually Elizabeth took in a deep breath to contain her laughter.

"If Constellation Sheppard is so similar to Orion, is he also holding a club and about to be attacked by a scorpion?" she asked, as she turned onto her side and propped herself up on an elbow.

"No, he is aiming a P-90 at a wraith bug," he said pointing to another cluster of stars."

"Wraith bug? I thought we weren't supposed to talk about that again?" Elizabeth asked she looked to the direction he pointed to.

"_You_ aren't, only _I_ can bring it up and no one else."

"I see a Sheppard sensitive spot."

"Exactly. Now it's your turn," he announced.

Elizabeth groaned. "Not again."

"Yes, again, and this time we are lying down so there is no excuse for you say your neck hurts from looking up."

"Can I say my back hurts from lying on the concrete floor?"

"No."

"Fine," Elizabeth frowned. Finally she asked, "Why is it that you get a whole constellation to yourself, and I ended up with a letter?"

"Maybe you should make up a constellation and dedicated it to yourself. Like me," he smiled.

"Yes, my ego can sure use an extra boost," she said sarcastically.

"Of course it can. You are always worrying about others. You never take any time out for yourself," John said echoing the Old Elizabeth's words.

Elizabeth looked at John suspiciously. "Did you over hear everything I said to the other Elizabeth?"

"No, I didn't over hear anything. She told me."

"She told you?"

"Yeah, I had a nice chat with her, when Beckett went to get you that one time," he explained.

"That's right I remember her telling me you told her it was our birthday. I'm curious to what she said to you?"

"You know…" he shrugged.

"No, I don't. Despite the fact that she and I were the same person. We aren't…in a way."

John smiled. "She told me to keep an eye on you. Since you tend to worry about others and forget about taking care of yourself. That's why you are so thin. You never eat. At least you usually forget to eat, especially during times when you had some really tough negotiations."

"What did you tell to her?" she asked.

"I told her everything she said about you was right on the money, and she didn't look a day over nine thousand, even though that day was her ten thousand and first birthday."

"So that's how she knew about our birthday."

"Yeah," John smiled sheepishly. "So are you going to take your own advice and relax now?"

"I guess. If I don't I would be a hypocrite," Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Yeah and we don't want that," John agreed with a chuckle.

"Over there," she pointed to a spot on in the sky. "Next to constellation E –"

"You mean constellation Elizabeth," John corrected.

"I'm sorry constellation _Elizabeth_," she rolled her eyes and continued. "Don't you think those stars make a semi-circle?" Elizabeth drew an invisible semi-circle with her finger. "And the stars inside the semi-circle are—"

"Cereal!" John interrupted.

"What?" Elizabeth asked annoyed at John absurd interruption.

"The semi-circle looks like an overturned bowl, and the stars inside the bowl are cereal spilling out because whoever was carrying to bowl, probably McKay, tripped and dropped the bowl on the floor…sky. You know what I mean," he said.

"No, I don't know what you mean," Elizabeth shook her head and continued. "Anyway, I was thinking about that time that Rodney showed us a simulation of how the city would look if the shields were activated. I remember the City looking like a dome with the shield on, and you could see the lights of the City twinkling through the shield."

"I still like Spilt Tragedy better," John said.

"Spilt Tragedy?"

"I think it's tragic when you spill your bowl of cereal, especially when it's in limited supply," John said. Elizabeth rolled her eyes again and muttered something under breath. "So what are you going to name this constellation then?"

"Atlantis?" she said unsure.

"Atlantis? Don't we already have an Atlantis? That dinky triangle by Lantia, isn't that Atlantis?"

"No, the 'dinky' triangle is part of Lantia."

"Why would it be part of Lantia? When it isn't connected to her?"

"It could be, if I drew a line connecting the triangle to that star, which would represent her line of sight," Elizabeth argued, but she wasn't sure if her argument was strong enough to convince John.

"Okay," John conceded and stretched his arms back over his head then rested them behind his head.

Elizabeth was surprised that John wasn't going to continue arguing with her over the twinkling dots in the sky. Elizabeth let out a long sigh. "So how much longer do I have to stay out here with you?" she asked.

"Were you always this impatient in your classes?"

"No, I was attentive and eager to learn. I actually liked going to my classes." Elizabeth smiled at the memories of her youth.

"Freak."

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth said pretending to be offended and sat up since her back was getting stiff from lying on the hard ground. "I'm not to one who randomly spouts out numbers. Mr. I-took-the-Mensa-test."

"Rodney told you about the Mensa thing?"

"More or less. He was mostly complaining, but I wasn't really listening," Elizabeth said.

"You weren't listening to your foremost science expert?" John asked with feigned shock.

"Not unless it's important."

"What if you were talking to me? Are you listening to me then?"

Elizabeth pretended to not hear John. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Haha, very funny, Doctor. Don't quit your day job," he sulked.

Elizabeth chuckled as she wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her chin on her knees.

"You know it's still your turn," John reminded.

"What?" Elizabeth paused to think. "That's right you made two constellations, Sheppard and Wraith Bug," Elizabeth sighed. "I hope Sheppard misses the shot and the wraith bug gets attached to his neck. Oh wait, that _did_ happen." Elizabeth have John an impish grin.

"What did I say about only _I_ can mention that incident?" John sat up and rested his arms on his knees.

"What did I say about _me_ being the boss?" she shot back.

"That is not cool. That's harassment."

"Harassment? You're such a party pooper,"

"Hey, I maybe a lot of things, but I'm not a party pooper," he retorted. "You should have seen the party that I dreamed up when we were on that mist planet. You missed out."

"I thought you saw dead people."

"I did, but it was still a happening party."

"I'm sorry I missed it," she said sarcastically.

"You bet. Now how about that constellation?" he asked.

Elizabeth shrugged, "It's up there somewhere."

"I know it's up there somewhere. I just want you to point out where that somewhere is and name it. Don't you know any more Ancient myths or poems you can turn into a constellation?"

"No," Elizabeth frowned. "Okay I got another one," she said as her eyes lit up. "Right below Stargate those stars look like Canis Major."

John nodded. "Okay, I've got a wraith bug you got a dog. What are you going to name it?"

"Sedge."

"Sedge? I'm hoping that isn't your ex-boyfriend's name."

"No," Elizabeth smiled. "Sedge is my dog back on Earth."

"Do you miss him?" Elizabeth nodded. "I bet you miss him. You miss enough to name a constellation in another galaxy after him."

John's comment brought a smile to Elizabeth's lips. "Her actually," she corrected. "At least I know she is in good hands, so I'm not worried."

A cool breeze blew by and Elizabeth's arms moved from hugging her knees to hug herself. John noticed Elizabeth's attempt to keep herself warm in the cooling night and quickly slipped out of his jacket and draped it around her shoulders.

Elizabeth was startled by the sudden weight of the jacket over her shoulders, but quickly smiled when she saw it was only John.

"Thank you, John," Elizabeth said. Pulling the warm jacket around herself tighter.

"It's nothing. It's just my jacket, and I expect it back," he said.

"No, I mean thank you for getting me to relax and enjoying these moments in life."

John shrugged. "I was only doing what you ordered me to do."

Elizabeth frowned. "When did I give you this order?"

"I mean the order was from the older and wiser you. She was technically still my boss right? Even though I was already dead in her reality, but…" John trailed off as he pondered the thought.

"John," Elizabeth lightly placed her hands on John's arm. "Don't think to hard your head might explode, and I still need you to go do some recon for M2J-823 tomorrow," she smiled and stood up. She slipped the jacket off and handed it back to John. "Good night, John. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning."

John rolled his eyes, "Yeah, too bright and early if you're asking me." John stood up gathering the blanket and his backpack.

"Well, I'm not asking you. I'm telling. Good night, John" Elizabeth said and left the balcony.

As she entered the control room, Elizabeth heard John ask, "Can't we moved the briefing a little later? Just a suggestion."

Elizabeth smiled to herself and continued walking with John close behind her.


	3. Falling Stars

_**A/N: **Due to the many, many, many requests that I had for a third session. I gavein to peer pressure and wrote aSORTA third session._

_Thanks for all the reviews for the last couple chapters everyone!_

**Chapter 3**

It was late into the warm night. Elizabeth had been lying awake in her bed for the last hour. She stared at the ceiling of her room, hoping boredom would bring sleep along with it, but frustration came first. She closed her eyes again begging sleep to come, but that was also fruitless. She even counted sheep, but that just kept her mind from resting and made her even more awake. Elizabeth sighed and turned onto her side and tried to sleep again, but it wasn't working either. The warm humid climate of her room only contributed to her discomfort.

Finally Elizabeth got up and sat on the side of her bed. She felt the cool floor beneath her bare feet. She decided to go the mess and get some water to drink. A drink of water might help her sleep. Maybe the walk to the mess would take the sleeplessness out of her. At least she hoped it would.

She pushed herself up to a standing position, straightened the tank top she wore and staggered towards the door in the dark. Elizabeth yawned as she pushed the button to open her door. Before Elizabeth's eyes had a chance to refocus to the lights in the hallway, she had a heart attack. If she weren't wake already, she was completely awake now.

"John, what are you doing here?" she asked, her hand over her fast beating heart.

Apparently John was standing right outside her door. He was in the middle of drinking water from a bottle when Elizabeth opened her door. Surprised, he quickly swallowed the gulp of water in his mouth.

"I was…uh…I wanted to ask you something…" he said, obviously still trying to think of a plausible excuse. "Nice pajamas," he added.

Elizabeth blinked from the bright lights in the hallway. "Thank you," she said puzzled at his comment about her pajamas. "You wanted to ask me something at one in the morning? What's so important that it couldn't wait until a decent hour?"

"Well, before you opened your door, I was still deciding if it was important enough to wake you; but you already made that decision for me," he said recapping the bottle in his hands. "Since you're up, let's go," he said grabbing Elizabeth's hand and started to lead her down the hall towards a transporter.

"Where are we going in the middle of the night?" she asked as John basically dragged her into the transporter. "And why are you still up?"

"I'm always up late," John said. "Why are _you_ up?" .

"I couldn't sleep. I was going to head to the mess to get some water to drink," she said leaning against the transporter wall as John pressed a dot on the glowing panel.

"You're thirsty?" He held out the bottle of water he drank from earlier to her. Elizabeth just stood there looking at the bottle he held out. It was still half full. "Take it. I'm not sick or anything."

Elizabeth looked at him one last time and took the bottle from his hand as the transporter door opened.

"So where are you whisking me off to, Major?" she asked after taking a sip of water.

"I'm whisking you off the east pier."

"What is at the east pier?"

"A pier, a nice view, you know stuff like that," he said with a shrug.

Elizabeth stopped walking. "John, I'm walking around the city in the middle of the night in my pajamas, barefoot. Despite the fact that I look and feel like an idiot right now, can you _please_ inform me of why we are going to the east pier?" she asked annoyed.

John furrowed his eyebrows and scratched the back of his head. "I don't think you look like an idiot. As for going to the east pier…it's a surprise."

"Oh it's a surprise, why didn't you just say so?" Elizabeth said sarcastically crossing her arms across her chest.

"You're cranky," John said. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. "Did I just say that out loud?" Elizabeth continued glaring at John. "I guess so…look," John started to walk back toward Elizabeth. "Let's just say it's our third constellation session."

Elizabeth moved her hands to her hips. "Third constellation session?"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten about them already. It's only been a couple months since the last one."

"No, I haven't forgotten about it, but it's one in the morning."

"The stars are still out," he said.

"It's one in the morning."

"We aren't that far from the east pier."

"It's one in the morning," she repeated again.

"It's just around the corner," he tried again.

"It's one in the morning."

"Okay, it's not a constellation session," he admitted, "but I still think you would want to see this." Elizabeth narrowed her eyes unconvinced.

John sighed and looked at Elizabeth then at his watch. Just when Elizabeth thought John had given up and was going to let her return to her room. He grabbed her hand and started to run towards the east pier.

Taken completely of guard, Elizabeth ended up following John. She tried to pull her hand free from his grasp, but he held her hand firmly. After a while Elizabeth gave up and just followed him. Aside from the fact that she was a tad bit annoyed, this experience of running around the empty city in the middle of night, made her feel a bit giddy and silly. Elizabeth mostly felt silly for walking around barefoot in her pajamas. At least it was late and no one else would be around to witness this absurd sight.

"See we're here," John announced when the reached the east pier.

A cool breeze blew by when they walked outside. Elizabeth took in a deep breath of the crisp air. The climate outside was definitely much better than in her room.

"We're here. Now what?" she asked taking another sip of water from the bottle still in her hand.

"We wait," John said as he sat down on a step that led down to the pier and took the bottle from Elizabeth.

"What no blanket today? What happened to being prepared?" she teased sitting down next to him.

"I wasn't sure if you were awake, so I wasn't prepared this time around. I left it all up to spontaneity," he said finishing the last of the water and placing the empty bottle on the ground beside him.

"Spontaneity? This spontaneity of yours better be worth it, because you're keeping me up way past my bedtime," Elizabeth said. "Tomorrow I'll really be cranky."

John chuckled. "I'm sure it will be worth it. Just keep your eyes on the sky."

"Fine, I'll keep my eyes on the sky, but I'm not making any constellations up. I maybe awake but my brain sure isn't." Elizabeth stood up and started to walk towards the end of the pier and leaned her elbows on the railing.

"If I gave you a cup of coffee right now, would that help?" John asked.

"Probably not," Elizabeth replied turning around to lean her back against the railings to look at John. "Unlike _some_ people, I require some sleep."

John smiled and returned his gaze onto the sky.. "Did you see that?" John said pointing to the sky.

Elizabeth quickly turned her attention back to the sky. Then she saw it. Streaks of light that shot quickly through the velvet black sky and disappeared as quickly as they came.

"Shooting stars," she gasped.

John was pleased to see the smile that formed on Elizabeth's face. "You know they are really fiery balls of rocks that are plummeting down onto the planet."

"Are you trying to spoil my fun?" she said echoing his words from their last session..

John smirked. "Yes, you gave me a hard time for dragging you out here."

Elizabeth shook her head and returned to sit beside John on the step. "I'm sorry, but 'it's a surprise' is a pretty weak argument."

"It's still an argument," he said.

"A very, very, very weak one. Now shut up I'm trying to look at the falling fiery balls of rock."

"The scientific terms is meteors," John corrected.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and continued watching the natural display of streaming lights.

"How did you know about this?" she suddenly asked.

"Zelenka told me. He said something about the planet's orbit passing through some trail of a comet's orbit causing a display of meteor showers once every couple years."

"Fascinating."

"I thought you'd think so," he said pleased.

"I remember the first time I saw a falling star," Elizabeth said. "As a little girl, I sometime sat outside with my father during hot summer nights. One day we saw a falling star. I remember being awed by the sight, and I remembered my father telling me to make a wish."

"Did you?"

"Yes," Elizabeth smiled at the memory.

"What did you wish for?"

"Honestly, I don't remember. It was a long time ago. I didn't even remember that day until now," she admitted.

"Why don't you make a wish now?" he suggested "I think we've seen enough falling stars tonight for you to make a whole lot of wishes."

Elizabeth smiled and closed her eyes to make her wish. John watched Elizabeth's face as she made a wish. She looked beautiful and at peace. John smiled to himself and closed his eyes as well to make his own wish.

"I made my wish. Did you?" she said opening her eyes as soon as she finished.

"Yeah, I made my wish," John smiled sheepishly. "What did you wish about?"

"If I told you my wish, then it wouldn't come true," she said matter-of-factly.

"Who made up that stupid rule?"

"I don't know, the wishmaker," Elizabeth replied.

"See, I never understood that. How can your wishes come true, if you don't tell someone who could help make that wish come true? It's like when Aladdin found the lamp, he had to _tell_ the Genie what his wishes were so the genie could grant them."

"You have a point there," Elizabeth said, "but like you said. Aladdin was telling his wishes to a _genie_, and you are obviously _not_ a genie."

John frowned, "Come on, what did you wish for?" He nudged Elizabeth with his elbow.

"No."

"I'm making a new rule, since we aren't on Earth anymore and the wishmaker doesn't exist here or anywhere. Everyone who makes a wish here has to tell me," John announced.

"Do you really want to know what everyone wishes are?" Elizabeth asked resting her chin in her hand propped on her knees.

"Maybe not everyone. Right now I just want to know what _your_ wishes are," he said after thinking for a moment. "Besides I could always change the rule after you tell me."

"Remind me to never let you rule a country," Elizabeth muttered.

"Come on, what did you wish for?" John nagged again.

"I wished that you would stop nagging me about what I wished for."

"For some reason I can believe that was one of your wishes," John said, "but I know you have a better one. Come on, tell me."

Elizabeth heaved a sigh. "Fine, I wished that one day my knight in shining armor will come and whisk me away to a castle in the clouds."

"Very funny. It took you that long to come up with that answer?" he teased.

"It's one in the morning."

"Is that your answer for everything tonight?"

"At one in the morning. Yes."

"You know it was one in the morning twenty minutes ago." He showed his watch to Elizabeth.

"It's one in the morning," Elizabeth said in between a yawn.

"Come on tell me."

"I told you already. The knight in shining armor and castle in the clouds one," Elizabeth said.

"That wasn't a wish. You were just stating a fact."

"A fact? How so?" Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows.

"Knight in shining armor whisking you away? Hello, yours truly here is the knight that whisked you away," John smiled proudly, "and the castle in the clouds. It's obviously Atlantis, since Atlantis is a ginormous space ship."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "You know that's what almost every little girl wishes for."

"For me to whisk them away and take them to Atlantis?" he asked pretending to be confused.

"For the record, _I_ asked you to join me in this expedition," she reminded.

"So _you_ whisked me away to the castle in the clouds," John said.

"Yes, you and two hundred other people."

"Then you made all our wishes come true. So…what did you wish for?" he asked again.

Elizabeth peeled her sight from the spectacle in the sky and looked at John. "You are so persistent," she said. John only smirked. He knew Elizabeth was close to giving in.

She yawned again and wrapping her arms around herself and looked at the rippling waves. "I wished for us to be safe," she finally said. "I wished that what ever we encountered and what ever we go through we would survive to return home one day."

"I knew you weren't selfish enough to make a wish for yourself," John said.

Elizabeth blushed slightly from his comment. "What about you? What did you wish for?"

"I can't tell you. Then my wish won't come true."

"You suck," she said using her shoulder to nudge him.

"I know," he winked.

"Fine, don't tell me what you wished for, I don't care," Elizabeth said with another yawn. The cool night air and the sound of the waves were calming and were causing Elizabeth to grow sleepy. She didn't know what time it was, but she knew that she was no longer wide awake. She was starting to get very sleepy.

Her eyes drifted back up to the sky and she still saw several more meteors still skating through the sky every now and then.

"Are you cold?" John asked.

Elizabeth drowsily shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself tighter. John figured the tank top that Elizabeth wore was fitting for her warm bedroom, but not for a cooling night. John ignored Elizabeth's drowsy response and placed an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. Elizabeth was too tired to notice, and instead she moved to rest her head on his shoulder. All she knew at the moment was that she felt warmth and she was comfortable. She let out a soft sigh and drifted off into sleep.

"I'll tell you what I wished for," John began. He looked down to see that Elizabeth was asleep on his shoulder. He had a feeling she would fall asleep on him, but he didn't expect her to literally fall asleep on him. He didn't blame her. He did drag her out here in the middle of the night with out any prior notice.

"I guess you weren't kidding when you said you didn't care what I wished for," he sighed to himself.

With Elizabeth's head still propped on his shoulder, he carefully stood up and carried Elizabeth in his arms. Since he had dragged her out here in the first place, it was his responsibility to carry her back to her room.

He looked at the sky once more and made one more wish as another star fell before heading back.


	4. Celestial Navigation

_**A/N:** Okay I succumbed and wrote another chapter. Don't you guys make this a habit now! All this throwing plot bunnies, that I can't resist, at me...if you keep this up I don't know what will happen. Anyways Thanks for all the nice reviews! You guys are the best!_

_Anywaysthere is aoriginal character that I mention in this fic and for those who are interested, I introduced the character Deena in one of my other fics which is in relation to the episode "Before ISleep," and my theory on howSheppard found out Weir's birthday. The fic is called "Mums theWord" and that can also be accessed in my profile, since I can't link the site here. _

**Chapter 4**

Elizabeth tossed in her bed and pulled her blanket tighter around herself. She wondered why she was so cold all of a sudden. Then she remembered she was still sitting outside with John on the east pier…

Suddenly Elizabeth's eyes snapped open. She found that she was back in her own comfortable bed. She sat up and tried to shake the sleep from her mind. She looked around her room perplexed and noticed sunlight creep through her window.

Elizabeth thought that getting out of bed would clear up her confusion, and she walked towards her bathroom door. She groggily reached out her hand and opened the door.

"John?" Elizabeth was even more confused now. She blinked several times thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her, but every time she opened her eyes John still stood in front of her. The first thought that crossed her mind was why would John be in her bathroom? Then she realized her mistake. She had opened the door to her room instead of her bathroom.

"Good morning," John said with a chipper voice.

Elizabeth tilted her head to one side and looked at John. "Are you always standing outside my room door?"

John rubbed his hand over his chin. "No," he said looking around, "but right now it looks like I camp outside your room doesn't it?" He furrowed his eyebrows waiting for Elizabeth's reaction.

"Very much," Elizabeth said, still squinting from sleep. She combed her hand through her hair and walked back into her room. John stood at her door, unsure if he should follow or not.

At the sight of her bed, Elizabeth sluggishly staggered towards it and lay down on her side. "Why are you here so early John?" Elizabeth asked in between a yawn.

Taking her question as an invitation, John entered. "Teyla asked me to drive her to the Mainland today. I was wondering if you wanted to come along."

"When were you planning on going?"

"Some time in the afternoon."

"Afternoon…Why are you here asking me this at the crack of dawn?" Elizabeth asked looking at John through the slits of her eyes.

"I wanted to make sure you didn't have any plans for the rest of the day."

Elizabeth yawned again. "I don't know. My days are always full of surprises. Especially when _you_ go off-world."

"Since I'm _not_ going off-world today, there shouldn't be any surprises. So want to come. It's been a while since you've been to the Mainland. Don't you want to visit the Athosians and make sure they are all right? And I think Halling has a thing for you," he said with wink.

Elizabeth opened her eyes and looked at John. "Halling does _not_ have a thing for me," Elizabeth said. "The Athosians just send him to talk to me every time because his statuesque stature is suppose intimidate me. Besides I think it's more likely Jinto has a thing for you."

"Of course he does. I'm his hero," John smiled sheepishly and sat down on the end of Elizabeth's bed. "So are you coming?"

"Ask me after I've had my coffee," Elizabeth said, burying her face in her blanket.

"You know you don't look much like a leader, talking to me when you're lying in bed and cranky," John teased.

"Out," Elizabeth commanded pointing one hand towards the door without looking up.

John chuckled to himself as he got up to leave. "Fine, I'll bother you later."

"Oh joy," Elizabeth muttered into her blanket as the doors to her room closed.

* * *

"Are we ready to go?" John asked as soon as he walked into Elizabeth's office.

Elizabeth looked at John blankly. "Go where?"

"To the Mainland. I asked you this morning if you wanted to go, but you told me to ask you again after you had your coffee. Are we ready to go?" he asked again.

Elizabeth gave John a perplexed look. "You're asking me as if I had already agreed to go."

"I figured since all the SG teams are back, and I'm not going off-world and getting into trouble. You can go to the Mainland for a couple hours without the City sinking." John saw that Elizabeth was still unconvinced. "And the other day you said you haven't been to the Mainland in a long time. So let's go. Teyla is waiting for us at the jumper bay," John said. Not waiting for Elizabeth to answer, he walked towards the control room.

Elizabeth reluctantly got up from her desk, said a few words to the technician on duty in the control room, and fell into step with John as they climbed up the stairwell leading to the jumper bay.

"What did I tell you about volunteering people without first asking for their permission?"

"I didn't volunteer you this time. You said you wanted to go, and out of the kindness of my heart, I'm offering you a chance to go. Now stop worrying. You told what's-his-name where you were going. So if anything happens I can get you back in twenty minutes," he assured her. "Besides you're going to be with me all day. What trouble could I get into?" he said.

"John, you have a knack for getting into trouble no matter how much I keep my eye on you."

John gave Elizabeth a boyish grin, headed into the jumper, and took his seat in the pilot seat. Elizabeth followed John and found Teyla in the back compartment putting her bags down.

"Hello Teyla," Elizabeth said.

"Doctor Weir," Teyla said with a nod. "Major Sheppard told me that you might join us today."

"Yes, John can be very persuasive at times," Elizabeth said rolling her eyes at John. "I see you are taking quite a bit of things with you."

"There are always many things I must bring back to my people, especially when they are on the Mainland."

"I understand. Is there anything you need help with?" Elizabeth offered.

"No thank you, Doctor Weir. I am just about done," Teyla said.

Elizabeth left Teyla to her preparations and sat down in the co-pilot seat next to John.

* * *

As soon as they reached the Mainland, Teyla went off to visit her people. Leaving John and Elizabeth to wander around the Athosian village. They walked around the tents and talked with the villagers here and there. Elizabeth recognized most of the Athosian from their short residency in the city, though there were names of some that slipped her mind.

Everyone seemed to be settling in the Mainland well, and Elizabeth was relieved. She felt terrible for having to uproot them from their home planet and move them here, but things seemed to be turning for the better. At least she hoped.

Elizabeth smiled as several of the Athosian children ran around the area playing tag. She recognized Wex and Jinto and waved to them. Jinto returned her wave excitedly and continued in his game of chase with Wex and several other children.

"What do you usually do when you are on the Mainland?" Elizabeth asked John.

"I usually just…wander," John said, resting his hands on the P-90 that hung on his vest.

"Wander. That sounds fun." Elizabeth clasped her hand behind her back and continued wandering the rows of tents with John.

"You know I should be reading reports right now," Elizabeth said.

John gave Elizabeth a sidelong glance. "What are you trying to do?"

"Me?" Elizabeth looked at John innocently. "I'm not trying to do anything. I was just thinking out loud."

"Right," John narrowed his eyes. "Aren't you enjoying this change of scenery? Don't you get sick of being in the control tower all day?"

Before Elizabeth could answer, an Athosian woman approached them.

"Doctor Weir. Major Sheppard, it has been many days since you've visited us," the woman said.

For the life of her, Elizabeth could not remember the woman's name. Elizabeth thought it best to answer her greeting with a smile. "Yes, it has been a long time," she said. "I have been quite busy. I'm glad to see that everyone seems to be doing well."

"Thank you, Doctor Weir." the woman said and turned her attention to John. "Major Sheppard, do you still remember me?"

John furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "Of course I remember you. You are Deena," he smiled proudly.

Deena smiled. "I remember the last time you visited was when I gave you the little jar."

"That's right," John nodded. "Remember that jar I gave you for your birthday?" John asked Elizabeth. "Deena, here, made it."

"I see. It is a beautiful jar," Elizabeth said to Deena. "Thank you."

"There is no need to thank me. I only placed the jar in Major Sheppard's possession. It was him who gave you the gift."

"That's very true, but I just want to say that the work you did on it was exquisite."

"Thank you. You are too kind, Doctor Weir." Deena smiled and quickly excused herself when she saw her friend. "Enjoy your visit here," she said and departed.

John and Elizabeth continued walking in silence, until they reach a small path that led into a forest.

"I guess this is a path the Athosian's made. Want to check it out?" John asked.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Elizabeth muttered, following John down the small dirt path.

"Because you hang around McKay too much. What could go wrong? It's not like we could get lost. We'll just keep on the path," John said gesturing to the dirt path they were on. "Unless the trees move, we should be fine," John assured her.

"I'm not worried about the trees moving. I'm more worried about _you_ going off the path."

"Me going astray? Inconceivable," John said giving Elizabeth his most innocent look.

John continued down the path and reached his hand up to pluck a flower from a low hanging branch of a tree. The crimson flower had five petals and its appearance was similar to a hibiscus. John took a sniff of the sweet smelling flower and gave it to Elizabeth.

"This is for you," he said, "and look, it matches your shirt."

Elizabeth couldn't help but smile. She graciously accepted John's gift and smelled the sweet scent of the flower.

"What's this for?" she asked.

"Nothing…yet."

"What do you mean by yet?" Elizabeth looked at John suspiciously.

John pretended not to hear Elizabeth's question and continued walking. Eventually the dirt path led to one of the crop fields that the Athosians had been growing. Since the sun was near setting, there was no one in the fields.

"And now here is the tour of the crops on the Mainland." John said in a tour guide like voice. .

"You didn't know this was here, did you?" Elizabeth said.

"Of course, I knew it was here. I just _neglected_ to remember it was here."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I don't know much about agriculture, but it looks like the crops are doing well. Which is a good sign."

"Yes, a very good sign. We can stop going to the Manarans for food. I just don't like that Smeadol guy, he so…slimy." John made face.

"John, be nice. They are our allies."

"Allies that sold us out to the Genii," John said bitterly.

"At least we know the land here is able to yield crops, that means we won't have to worry about starving, or depend on allies that might sell us out."

"Good," he said and started walking back in the direction they came. Elizabeth unfamiliar with the area followed John assuming he knew the way back.

"We should get back and check on Teyla. It's starting to get dark," Elizabeth said.

John nodded and continued walking. Then Elizabeth started to notice that John was looking around as if he was searching for something.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Uh…" John scratched the back of his head. "Does this place look familiar to you at all?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "This is my first time in here, nothing looks familiar."

"This place doesn't look familiar to me either."

Elizabeth glared at John. "What?"

"Remember when you asked me why I gave you the flower? That 'yet' means now."

"If your implying that the flower is to make up for you getting us lost, it doesn't," Elizabeth said.

"It was worth a try," he shrugged.

"So what are we going to do now?"

"Well Teyla hasn't contacted us yet, so we still have time to find our way back."

As if on cue, John's radio crackled to life and Teyla's voice came through.

"Major Sheppard, where are you?" Teyla said.

"Doctor Weir and I were surveying the crops the villagers were growing. Are you ready to leave?"

"I see. Halling tells me that the harvest for the year will be aplenty," Teyla said.

"That's good do hear," John said.

"As for leaving, I'm sorry I did not tell you sooner, but Sena was able to convince me to stay here for the evening. You can send someone to pick me up tomorrow."

"That's fine. We'll see you tomorrow then. Take care."

"Thank you, Major."

After John finished talking to Teyla on the radio, he looked at Elizabeth who found a log to sit on.

"Good news. We can go home now," John said.

"And how do you propose for us to go home when we are lost?"

"I never said we were lost. I just said that this area doesn't look familiar. There is a difference." Elizabeth looked at him doubtingly. John looked back towards the direction they came. "Since we came for that way," he pointed to the direction behind them, "we should go straight."

"All right, let try going straight," Elizabeth sighed.

They continued walking straight for some time. Elizabeth trudged behind John and watched the sky change into hues of red, purple, and blue as the sun set. Elizabeth had a feeling they were going the wrong direction, when she asked John for his flashlight.

"John, we've been walking this direction for almost an hour. I think we are going further and further way from the village," Elizabeth said sitting down on a slab of rock.

"We aren't going the wrong way. This is a short cut," John insisted.

"The last short cut you took, led you to the secret underground hatch of the Genii," Elizabeth said shining the flashlight in John's face.

John squinted and used his hand to block the light from his face. "How did you know?"

"It was in Rodney's mission report."

"He wrote that?"

"Among other things." She moved the light away from John's face and shined it into the darkness of the forest. "Don't you have a compass or something?"

John patted his vest pocket and a disappointed face. "Rodney took it in our last mission and never returned it to me."

"Moss grows to the north…on earth. Do you think that applies to here?" Elizabeth asked.

"I don't know. I never paid attention to Rodney when he explains things."

"Do we have any other means of finding a way back to the village other than wandering around like idiots?" Elizabeth asked with a hint of irritation.

"Celestial navigation," John said with a smile.

"Celestial navigation?"

"Yes, why not? Sailors use it all the time."

"Sailors on earth had constellation to go by,"

"So do we."

"And you are obviously not a sailor."

"I navigate a spaceship. I'm a sailor of the skies," John said.

Elizabeth looked at John. "You're not serious."

"I'm very serious. You didn't think I made up those constellation sessions just to spend time with you."

"I thought you made up those constellation sessions to annoy me and force me to relax."

"Well, today I'm going to prove to you that those sessions were not a complete waste of time."

Elizabeth remained sitting and twirled the flower in her fingers as she watched John looking up at the sky. "Do you see any constellations we made up?" she asked shining the flashlight in the general direction John stood.

"I think I see Puddlejumper, but it's hard to tell. Too many trees. We need to find a spot with fewer trees. I think there are fewer trees there." He said to himself pointed forward.

Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows and followed John. Her attention remained focused on the ground in front of them. She didn't feel like tripping on overgrown roots or step into a hole, but John was so engrossed with finding a better view of the stars he didn't bother to watch where he was walking. Elizabeth was waiting for him to trip on something.

She sighed and rolled her eyes as she listened to John muttering to himself. She hoped that they were going in a direction that would lead them somewhere familiar, or maybe if they were lucky, they would run into some Athosian hunters, who could lead them back to the village. Reluctantly she kept moving her tired legs forward.

As they continued walking forward, John noticed that the trees seemed to get thicker and he could barely see the night sky. He was starting to doubt whether he could pull off using the stars as a means of navigation. He was sure Elizabeth would never let him live this down. Then he noticed that there was a spot where the trees were sparse. Before he could make his way towards the spot, a hand grabbed him firmly on his arm to stop walking.

John looked down at his arm and recognized Elizabeth's hand. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Elizabeth only looked at John and shined her flashlight on the stump that was waiting for John to trip over.

"Maybe you should pay attention to where you walking. You don't want to trip and bump that pretty little head of yours," Elizabeth said and let go of his arm.

"You think I'm pretty?" he smirked.

"I think you're insane. We've been wandering around these woods for how many hours? And you refuse to admit you're lost."

"Take this moment as an experience of a lifetime."

"If we don't find a way out of here, we'll spend a lifetime here," Elizabeth muttered.

"Is that so bad?" John asked. Elizabeth only shook her head. "We're not going to spend a lifetime here. We are just admiring the view longer than we planned. You know, a little spontaneity."

"If we have to walk any farther, you're going to have to carry me home."

"Again?" he groaned, stepping around the tree stump and continue towards the spot where the trees were sparse.

"I didn't ask you to carry me back to my room last night," Elizabeth said trudging behind him.

"Well you kind of fell asleep on me."

"You could have woken me up."

"I was being a gentleman, and let you sleep," he replied.

"I guess you have your moments and thank you," she said, leaning against one of the trees and shining the flashlight around to see if there was anything that could help tell them where they were. Everything looked the same to her. She gave up and pointed the flashlight down on her shoes.

"Your welcome. I'm glad you approve of my moments," he said looking up at the sky with his hands on his hips.

"So what did you wish for?" Elizabeth asked, shining the flashlight on John's watch then on to his face.

"I wish I knew where the hell we are," John muttered.

"I meant last night. You said you were going to tell me what your wish was."

John finally peeled his eyes away from the sky, only to be assaulted by Elizabeth's light. "I thought you fell asleep."

Elizabeth giggled at the face John made when he realized the light was on his face. "I did, but I remember you offering to share your wish before I fell asleep."

"Well, that time has passed. I was going to tell you last night, and not tonight." He stepped out of the beam of light and walked towards Elizabeth.

"We are lost in the woods," she reminded. "The least you could do is tell me what your wish was. I told you mine."

"I gave you a flower," he pointed out.  
"We are still lost."

John knew he wasn't going to win this argument with Elizabeth. Especially when he had no clue to where they were.

"Okay, you win," he conceded. "My wish was more selfish than yours."

"How so?"

He leaned onto the tree next to Elizabeth and took the flashlight from her hands. "I wished that we would always have moment like this. Where we can both enjoy each other's company, and shine flashlights in each other's faces."

"Really?" Elizabeth was touched, but the light in her face was distracting her.

"Yes, I never thought I could enjoy someone's company as much as I enjoy yours," he said looking down, shining the flashlight on his watch.

"That is very sweet, John. Who knew John Sheppard was such a sweetie."

John shined the flashlight into Elizabeth's face again. "You did not just call me a sweetie."

"It was meant as a compliment," Elizabeth laughed as she tried to block the light with her hands. "Give me that." She took the flashlight back from John and gave him the flower to hold instead.

"I know and I appreciate it, but I have a reputation to keep. What would my enemies think if word got out that I was a sweetie?"

"They would think twice about engaging in combat with you."

"It's more likely they would make fun of me than engage me in combat."

"Then you have the advantage. While they are laughing at you, you can shoot them. Catch them off guard."

"I still rather not be called a sweetie."

"All right," Elizabeth sighed. "I guess your wish came true rather quickly."

John looked at Elizabeth. "What do you mean?"

"You wished for more moments where we can be alone in each other's company…"

"I guess so, but I didn't plan this whole getting lost part," he said smelling the flower Elizabeth returned to him.

Elizabeth smiled as she lowered her head and looked at her shoes. They both leaned on the tree in silence. Enjoying the moment.

"Do you hear that?" Elizabeth suddenly asked.

"Hear what?"

"I think I hear water."

"Water?"

"More like waves," she said turning her head to the direction she heard the sound.

This time it was Elizabeth who led the way. She used the flashlight to light her way and followed the sound. The further they walked. The louder the sound became. Elizabeth started to walk faster towards the sound and eventually they emerged from the forest onto a beach.

"Hey, you found the beach," John said.

Elizabeth smiled, "I guess I did."

"And now I can see the stars clearly," John said with a satisfied smile.

"Are you still going to attempt celestial navigation?" Elizabeth rolled her eyes and walked closer to the shore and sat down in the sand. It was good to be sitting again. Her feet ached from walking around for so long. She didn't want to walk anymore, but they were still technically lost. She stretched her legs out and watched the waves roll in and hit the shore.

"I think I've found our North Star," John said sitting down next to her.

"We have a North Star?"

"I think its north," he shrugged. "Anyway we have to go that direction." He pointed back towards the forest they walked out of. John saw Elizabeth roll her eyes. "But I guess you figured that out, without having to look at the constellations for direction. So much for celestial navigation," he mumbled.

Elizabeth smiled and kept her gaze on the ocean and looked in the general direction of the Atlantis. It felt odd for her to be out of the City. Sitting on this beach almost made her forget that she was on another planet and in charge of an expedition. For the moment everything seemed normal.

"Do you want to head back now?" John asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. "Maybe in a little bit," she said, leaning her head against John's shoulder.

"You're right, my wish _did_ come true rather quickly," John said, and placed the flower he still had in Elizabeth's hair above her ear. "It's moments like these that I wished for," John said.

He didn't have to look down at Elizabeth to know that she was smiling.


End file.
